Pelican Lake Dec. 17

[hookngrinin]

We arrived at Pelican Lake yesterday at about 10:30 am with the temperature sitting right at 0 degrees F and a light breeze. This cold stuff makes for good ice though. We treked out to our usual spot, drilled four holes and set up the shelter. The ice is a good solid 9" with about 2" - 3" of snow on top. As soon as we got our lines in it was fish on. The catching of 7 1/2" - 9" bluegill and 10" - 14" largemouth bass was very consistent. We started off tipping with mealworms but soon decided with the fast bite it wasn't neccessary. We were using very small green plastic jigs (not that that probably mattered). I estimate the two of us caught 70+ bluegill and 20 or so largemouth bass.

The physical condition of the bluegill continues to be poor. There is hardly any meat on the fillets of these skinny fish. I noticed this in alot of the fish we caught last winter but all the bluegill this last trip had hardly any meat on their backs. They don't seem to fight as hard either. The bass seem to be doing fine though.

Water clarity continues to be very poor compared to what it used to be. This is a result of the boom in the carp population. I miss the old Pelican Lake. The quality of this bluegill fishery seems to be going down hill fast.
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[fishnate]

Glad you found a good bunch of fish and right off the bat too. I agree that the bluegill seem a bit anemic. I think we need a good water year to help improve the water quality and help the fish. I think I will do more searching at other waters like Steinaker for bluegills this year.
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[hookngrinin]

I hear the bluegill are doing well at Steinaker and they don't have yellow grub. They would be some good eating when you find them.
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[doggonefishin]

That is to hear about the bluegills. How much has the carp population exploded out there? At the central RAC, the DWR was saying that the bass population was stunted there and the ratio of bluegill to bass was too high in favor of bass. That could explain lower bluegill numbers but not the poor condition. Maybe the water clarity is affecting the bass too. Bummer.
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[fishnate]

Some Steinaker gills have yellow grubs (saw some last year) but not near what the gills from Pelican have. Size quality is decent too. Just haven't found them through the ice yet.

Interesting info from the DWR about the stunted bass. I disagree but that's just my experience vs. their data. Bluegill do seem to be having trouble. Not sure what part the carp may be playing. Hope the DWR can get it figured out soon.
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[trfishin]

I hit pelican lake yesterday with a friend on mine. Between the two of us we caught over 75 bluegills and over 30 bass. The fishing was steady all day for us. The ice is about 8" and the lake is starting to come up a little bit.

The bluegills were about 6"-7" and a few maybe 8" no big ones but they are fun to catch the bass were 10" to 15". I sure was a nice day yesterday and the fishing was pretty good. I cant wait to get back down there again really soon
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[fishnate]

All these good reports are giving me the itch to head over there again. Did you have to move around much to stay on fish?
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[trfishin]

no we just started and stayed in one spot all day
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